The Eternal City, edited by David Drake, Martin Greenberg, and Charles
G. Waugh (Baen Books, January 1990). Cover by John Rheaume

The main reason I bought this collection was for the Howard story, “Kings of the Night.” This was back when I was striving to be a Howard completist. All in all, an entertaining collection.

It was published by Baen in 1990, and Drake did a pretty good job of selecting the stories. Here’s the complete Table of Contents.

We have:

1. Introduction: The Creation of Rome, by David Drake.
2. “Delenda Est, a Time Patrol tale,” by Poul Anderson (F&SF, December 1955)
3. “Nightfall on the Dead Sea,” by Ray Faraday Nelson (F&SF, September 1978)
4. “The Prince, Heroes in Hell tale,” by C. J. Cherryh (Far Frontiers Vol. IV, 1986)
5. “The Bottom of the Gulf,” by Barry Pain (Stories in the Dark, 1901)
6. “An Elixir for the Emperor,” by John Brunner (Fantastic, Nov. 1964)
7. “Some Very Odd Happenings at Kibblesham Manor House,” by Michael Harrison (F&SF, April 1969)
8. “Time Grabber,” by Gordon R. Dickson (Imagination, December 1952)
9. “Survey of the Third Planet,” by Keith Roberts (F&SF, January 1966)
10. “Don’t Be a Goose,” by Robert Arthur (Argosy, May 3, 1941)
11. “Domitia,” by Mrs. Richard S. Greenough (Arabesques: Monarè, Apollyona, Domitia, Ombra, 1872)
12. “Survival Technique,” by Poul Anderson & Kenneth Gray (F&SF, March 1957)
13. “Ranks of Bronze,” by David Drake (Galaxy, August 1975)
14. “Kings of the Night,” by Robert E. Howard (Weird Tales, November 1930)

All the stories have some tie in with Rome, although sometimes fairly tenuous. A lot of them are very good.

“Delenda Est” is a classic. I also much enjoyed “Nightfall on the Dead Sea,” “An Elixir for the Emperor,” and “Survey of the Third Planet.” I thought “The Prince” was weak.

The “Some Very Odd Happenings” was definitely the strangest of the bunch, and grotesque enough to make itself a horror story.

There were also two very hilarious tales, “Don’t be a Goose,” and “Survival Technique.” I enjoyed them both, and I like the short story “Ranks of Bronze” better than the full-length novel of that name.

Of course, Howard’s “Kings of the Night” is a great story, when Bran Mak Morn and Kull meet.

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Charles Gramlich administers The Swords & Planet League group on Facebook, where this post first appeared. His last article for us was a look at Lin Carter’s Year’s Best Fantasy Stories. See all of his recent posts for Black Gate here.